Method of doing away with the nicotine and the methylalcohol when smoking tobacco



Oct. 6, 1931. I. TRAUBE 1,826,331

METHOD OF DOING AWAY WITH THE NICQTINE AND THE METHYLALCOHOL WHEN SMOKING TOBACCO Filed Dec. 12, 1928 FigJ.

In ve n tor-.-

I j'aule 777WV4 methylalcohol.

Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES ISIDOB TBAUBE, OI BERLIN, GERMANY METHOD OF DOING AWAY WITH THE NICOTINE AND TI HE METHYLALCOHOL WHEN SMOKING TOBACCO Application filed December 12, 1928, Serial No. 325,552, and in Germany .Tune 23, 1927.

When smoking tobacco, either loosely in pipes or in the form of cigars and cigarettes, there arise, besides aromatic smoke and vapors, also other vapors which condense. at least partly and contain nicotine, as Well as These latter substances affeet the taste in a disagreeable and detrimental manner. Nicotine, for instance, forms, in chemical relation, bases which pro- (luce' a very disagreeable smell, whereby the pleasure otherwise to be had'is greatly i1npaired; besides, said bases are injurious to health.

Proposals have already been made to in- I tercept the said injurious substances, espe- 5 cially to suck up the condensate, for instance by means of insertions in the pipes, and it has also been proposed to mix the tobacco with certain counter-acting substances, for instance such containing silicic acid (kieselguhr, infusorial earth, and the like), or to conduct the vapors over ferric chloride, but none of these means has proved successful.

()n examining the effect of an addition of ferric chloride or of infusorial earth, it is found, that only quite immaterial amounts of nicotine and of methylalcohol are absorbed in liquid state. This slight effect which the experienced smoker perceives at once can be rendered visible by putting, for instance, a cigarette into a glass pipe and sucking the smoke by means of a pump through an absorption bottle containing water, and subjecting this latter than to a stalagmometric examination.

Examinations of this kind and of other. kinds have led me to the discovery that It is possible to do away actually completely with the noxious substances mentioned, irrespec- 49 tive of whether they are in the form of vapors or of condensates, and that it is at the same time also possible to improve the taste of the tobacco very materially (owing to the removal of the said substances) by conducting thet'obacco smoke over or through small amounts of acid (synthetically produced) silica gel as used for the absorption of steam. If, for instance, a few grains of this substance are put into a cigarette or sume during the smoking a brown, evendeeply, dark-brown color, according to the contents of nicotinein the respective tobacco.

The above-mentioned stalagmometric investigations as to the efiect of kieselguhr and to the effect of silica gel have been carried out with the aid of the arrangement and comblnation of parts shown in the accompanyin'g drawings partly in side-view and partly in vertical section. Inthis figure 1 denotes a right-angled tube, the horizontal 'branch of which is so enlarged as to be able to say, each thereof ignited and introduced into'the chamber 1, it being understood that they all contained the same sort or kind of tobacco.

The other vertical leg of the tube 3 extends, as shown, into a bottle-4 of the Woulfe type, which is connected by a tube 5 with a suction'pump not shown. lVhen this pump is in operation, the smoke is sucked through the water in the bottle 2. It was found that.

in a minute from 40 to 50 bubbles passed through the water from the tube 1 to the tube 3. In order to prevent the nicotine from separating in the form of salt, 2/10 cm. of potash-lye having a strength of 10% had been introduced intothe Water. in the bottle 2.

Three experiments were made, as follows: 'In the first case the smoke of the 5 cigarettes was conducted through the water with out the use of an absorption substance. Thereafter it'was ascertained that the water in the bottle 2 had a disagreeable strong smell and its color had become yellow. A yellow brown liquid covered the inner wall of the tube 1.

In the second experiment 0,2 gram of kicselguhr was introduced into the chamber 1 in 5g cigar holder it will be observed that they as front of the burning cigarette end, as at 1.

. The smell andthe color of the water in the bottle 2 were the same as in the first experiment, and an oily distillate covered the inner, wall of the tube 1'. The color of the kieselguhr had turned into a greyish white which proved that the influence of the kieselguhrupon the smoke as to the intercepting of the noxious substances had been very small.

In the third experiment 0,2 gram of silica gel were introduced into the chamber 1 (the cigarettes being always of the same sort or kind), and it Was afterwards ascertained that the silica gel had assumed a strongly brown color. But the extraordinarily remarkable other result was this that the water in the bottle 2 showed no color or smell whatever. Not a trace of a distillation precipitate could be found in the tube 1.

The hereinafter stated stalagmom'etric examination of the water contained in the bottle 2 showed that the alkalized water had prior to the tests a number of drops of 35,2. After the first experiment executed without an absorption substance the drop number was 43,9 and after the water had taken up the liquid collected at the wall of the chamber-1 and the tube 1 the number of drops was 47,7. The second experiment carried out with 0,2 gr. kieselguhr yielded a drop number of 43,2, and after the water had taken up the oily distil-' late the number of drops was 45,5. In the third experiment in which 0,2 gr. silica gel had been used in the chamber 1, the number" of drops was 35,7.

Thus, the stalagmometric test showed, in correspondence with the results of the other tests, that the influence of the kieselguhr upon the absorption of the distillate is exceedingly small, whereas, counter thereto,.if silica gel is used even hardly traces of nicotine or of methylalcohol could be detected in the water in the bottle 2.

' These tests and their results pro ve unquestionably that silica gel surpasses by far the other substances mentioned as a means for depriving the tobacco vapor of its noxious j components.

The silica gel can be used in the form of a pill inserted into the tobacco pipe or the cigar or cigarette holder, or it may be used in pulverulent state and distributed uniformly in the tobacco, ir respective of whether it is disintegrated tobacco, as in cigarettes, or if the tobacco is in the form of sheets, as in cigars. At all events the silica gel should be so arranged that the entire amount of the smoke can contact with it. v

I ,am showing by Way of example in Fig. 2 a cigarette having a piece of silica gel inserted into its mouth-piece. a denotes the cigarette figure, or ma be embedded in a pad of wadding or the li e.

I claim:

1. Method of obviating the injurious influence of nicotine and methyl alcohol in tobacco smoke, comprising bringing the tobacco smoke, between the burning tobacco and the mouth of thesmoker, into contact with silica gel, whereby the nicotine and methyl alcohol are adsorbed on the silica gel as set forth.

2. Process for obviating the injurious influence of nicotine and methyl alcohol in tobacco smoke, consisting in imb'edding a quantity of silica gel in the smoking tobacco and causing all the smoke from the tobacco to contact with the silica gel before reaching the mouth of the smoker.

In testimony whereof I affix m signature.

PROF. ISIDOR T AUBE.

and at its mouth-piece in which quite a small store of,silica-gel in the form of grains is housed. The amount is very small, viz, 0.025 gr. b denotes these grains. These latter'can contact directly with the tobacco, as in the 

